‘I had heard you were marrying your new secretary,’ Massimo said, swinging his hardened gaze to Nikki, running it up and down her body insultingly. ‘But I had no idea she was so very young and beautiful.’
Joseph’s arm came around Nikki’s waist in a territorial manner. ‘She is to be the new face of the Ferliani Fashions advertising campaign. She is delightful, is she not?’
‘Exquisite,’ Massimo drawled insolently. ‘But then you always want the best, and do whatever you can to get it.’
Joseph gave him an imperious smile. ‘Get over it, Massimo. This is one time you are not going to win. I have it all—a beautiful wife, a business that is thriving, and money to play with.’
‘What a pity none of it is really yours,’ Massimo ground out, his eyes flashing. ‘Even your angelic-looking wife is a slut. Why don’t you ask her what she was doing all last week?’
Nikki felt the colour of her shame brand her from head to foot. She wanted to sink to the ground at their feet, but a last vestige of pride made her hold her head high.
‘Nikki was having a well-earned rest before the wedding,’ Joseph said, but even she could see the doubt in his hazel eyes as they came to rest on her. ‘Weren’t you, Nikki?’
‘T-that’s right,’ she answered, lowering her gaze slightly.
‘Yes, well, she certainly spent a lot of time relaxing,’ Massimo said with another venomous glance in her direction. ‘But perhaps you had better ask her whose bed she was in last night.’
‘I think it might be time for you to leave,’ Joseph said, indicating for one of his burly staff members to come forward. ‘Gino, please show Signore Androletti the way out.’
‘You lying little whore,’ Massimo said to Nikki as he brushed off the man’s hands as if they were pieces of lint. ‘I will make you pay for this. I will not rest until I have you begging for my mercy, I swear to God.’
Nikki swallowed convulsively as he stalked out of the church grounds, the tolling of the bells ringing in her ears like an omen for the future…
The car coming to a halt jolted Nikki out of the past. She felt Massimo’s burning gaze still pressing against her in accusation. ‘You knew who I was that first night, didn’t you, Nikki? It was all a game to you, to make me appear a lovesick fool, while you were busily planning your marriage to another man—the one man I hated more than any other.’
‘You are entitled to your opinion, but I can assure you it is wrong. Anyway, it was a long time ago,’ she said with carefully measured calm. ‘It can hardly have any relevance to here and now.’
‘It has everything to do with here and now,’ he returned with chilling determination. ‘You see, Nikki, the time has come for my revenge.’
Nikki refused to allow him the satisfaction of seeing how much his words frightened her. She sat casually in her seat, one finely arched brow lifting in scorn. ‘This is the twenty-first century, in case you hadn’t noticed. The days of an eye for an eye, and what have you, have long gone.’
‘We will see,’ he said, and unfolded himself from the car. He turned to offer her a hand, but she ignored it as she too exited the vehicle on legs that were not as steady as she would have liked.
She looked up at the imposing mansion before throwing him a questioning glance. ‘I take it this is your house?’ she said.
‘It is.’ He turned to the driver. ‘Ricardo, you can take the next couple of hours off. Mrs Ferliani and I have business to discuss. I will call you when I need you.’
‘Right, boss.’
Nikki pulled her mouth tight as the limousine drove away.
‘I have no desire to discuss anything with you,’ she said. ‘I have things to see to at home, in any case.’
His dark brows lifted expressively. ‘Home?’ he asked. ‘Now, which home are you referring to, I wonder?’
She ground her teeth. ‘Even if what you say is true, that the house is now yours, by law I don’t have to move out with out notice.’
‘On the contrary, as the new owner I can evict you at a moment’s notice,’ he said. ‘You have already been living there for several months rent-free—or did your husband not inform you of that?’
Nikki swallowed against the solid lump of dread in her throat. ‘What are you talking about?’ she asked, her heart stumbling in her chest.
He gave her a cool smile. ‘Your husband approached me for financial help in the months before he died. He begged me to dig him out of trouble—but of course I refused.’
‘You unfeeling bastard,’ she bit out. ‘How could you twist the knife like that in a dying man?’
‘As you know, I had a score to settle,’ he said. ‘He took it very well, all things considered. He handed me everything—the house, the cars, the business, and…’ He paused deliberately, his gaze locking meaningfully with hers.
Don’t ask, Nikki told herself firmly. You already know the answer, so what would be the point?
‘You do not want to know what else your husband put up for purchase?’ he asked.
She met his sardonic gaze with a flare of resentment in hers. ‘If by any chance you are presuming to lump me in with the goods and chattels, then forget it—I am not for sale.’
His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes as he came to stand right in front of her. ‘He paid you to marry him,’ he said. ‘He even told me how much. You put quite a high price on yourself, did you not?’
Nikki ran her tongue over her dry lips as his eyes burned into hers. She refused to answer out of a mixture of pride and anger. Let him think what he liked. What did it matter now? Joseph was dead, and if what Massimo had said was true she was going to have to find a way to scrape what she could together to keep Jayden in care. She’d been down on her luck before and pulled herself out of it. It would be hard, but she’d damn well do it for her brother’s sake.
‘Of course, I will be very generous in my payment for your services,’ he said. ‘Very generous, indeed.’
She clenched her fists at her sides, her chest heaving against the tide of anger raging within her. ‘I am not going to sleep with you,’ she said. ‘Not for any price.’
The look he gave her was full of icy disdain. ‘You are very convincing, but I know what you are up to, Nikki. You are used to a high standard of living. You want to make sure it continues, do you not?’
Nikki felt as if her heart was being crushed between two solid bookends. ‘Joseph would not have left me with nothing,’ she said again, dearly hoping it was true. ‘He told me I would be left well-provided for on his death.’
‘I already told you, Nikki. Were you not listening? He left you with nothing. Nothing but debts that will take you years to clear, but fortunately for you I have come up with a plan to help you offload them more or less immediately.’
Nikki
